#1 Good Friends Overseas – Reception & Reunion

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Dec 23, 2016 23:44

There’s a well-known TV show in China called “The Chinese Bridge.” Native English speakers may think this is a Chinese card game competition. In fact, this is a language proficiency competition, sponsored by the Confucius Institute, for non-native Chinese speaking university students around the world. The show has lasted 15 seasons (one season per year). The first few shows were simply speaking contests, but over the last few years, the show has expanded into various forms. It can be either a game show, a quiz show, or even a reality show. The form is changed every year, with the intention of attracting more viewers and thus raising the ratings.

The winner of the show this year is a male Canadian university student from Quebec. I watched the finale online. When I first saw him speak on the show, I presumed that he could win. He spoke in almost perfect tones, and very fluently. Moreover, he was good-looking. Remember that the show has become entertainment. Want to win the show? If you possess appealing attributes, flaunt them! For example, humor, amiability, intellectual, etc.. The reason I keep track of this show is that, five years ago, I was a volunteer crew member who led competitors through the whole process.

It was in 2011, when I was a university student. I signed up during the recruitment of volunteers for the show. After a couple rounds of interviews, I made it! I was so excited because I was going to be a guide for one of the four groups. On a summer morning in Beijing, I started sitting at a reception desk in a five-star hotel to await competitors from all around the world. Since I was employed as an English-speaking volunteer, when I looked through the name list, I paid extra attention to students from English speaking countries. I found most of them were from prestigious universities. They came from the UK, America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Ireland. Wow, it sounded like a huge reunion of English speaking people with a mysterious connection with each other, but were scattered to the four corners of the world.

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There’s a well-known TV show in China called “The Chinese Bridge.” Native English speakers may think this is a Chinese card game competition. In fact, this is a language proficiency competition, sponsored by the Confucius Institute, for non-native Chinese speaking university students around the